A look at the Arizona ties of the XFL with Saturday’s kickoff on horizon

The XFL is officially back on Saturday.

Eight teams scattered around the country will battle it out over a 10-week season.

And while Arizona technically has no dog in the fight — having no XFL team — there’s quite a few familiar faces from the state littered throughout the league.

Here’s a list of former collegiate from the state (ASU, Arizona, NAU) and Cardinals players taking the XFL field:

FORMER ARIZONA CARDINALS

QB Chad Kanoff (L.A. Wildcats)

CB Harlan Miller (L.A. Wildcats)

QB Aaron Murray (Tampa Bay Vipers)

WR Jalen Tolliver (Tampa Bay Vipers)

WR Rashad Ross (D.C. Defenders)*

WR Malachi Dupree (D.C. Defenders)

OL Dorian Johnson (D.C. Defenders)

DL Suipeli Anau (D.C. Defenders)*

LB Scooby Wright (D.C. Defenders)*

WR Carlton Agudosi (St. Louis Battlehawks)

S Harold Jones-Quartey (St. Louis Battlehawks)

OL Josh Allen (Dallas Renegades)

OL Brant Weiss (New York Guardians)

K Matt McCrane (New York Guardians)

DL Pasoni Tasini (Seattle Dragons)

DE Praise Martin-Oguike (Seattle Dragons)

LB Edmond Robinson (Houston Roughnecks)

CB Deatrick Nichols (Houston Roughnecks)

The Defenders hold the most former Cardinals with five, while six others have two players each.

* – Former Cardinal and collegiate athlete from Arizona

ARIZONA STATE SUN DEVILS

WR Rashad Ross (Defenders)

LB Carl Bradford (Roughnecks)

CB Robert Nelson (Battlehawks)

DT Will Sutton (Dragons)

ARIZONA WILDCATS

LB Scooby Wright (Defenders)

OT Lene Maiava (Wildcats)

NORTHERN ARIZONA LUMBERJACKS

DT Siupeli Anau (Defenders)

S Wesley Sutton (Guardians)

A total of 35 players hail from the Pac-12. Of the schools, Oregon State had the most representation with seven players.

LSU and Auburn paced all schools with 10 players each.

So with no Arizona team, but plenty of former athletes from the state, who are you rooting for this season?

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